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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Phonetics and Phonology

Phoneme

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈfəʊniːm/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, phoneme means: The smallest unit of sound that can change meaning in a particular language, such as /p/ and /b/, which make pin and bin different words in English.

In Turkish: sesbirim, fonem

How it is used

Written between slashes (/θ/), while detailed phonetic forms go in square brackets ([tʰ]). Used in phonology, pronunciation teaching and early reading (phonics). Standard British descriptions count about 44 phonemes in English; the number varies by accent.

Example sentences

  1. English has two separate phonemes, /iː/ and /ɪ/, so sheep and ship are different words.

  2. Turkish learners often merge the phonemes /v/ and /w/, so 'vest' and 'west' sound the same.

Common collocations

  • phoneme inventory
  • vowel phoneme
  • consonant phoneme
  • phoneme contrast
  • allophoneOne of the different ways a single phoneme is pronounced in different positions, which native speakers usually hear as the same sound, like the /p/ in pin and in spin.
  • minimal pairTwo words that differ in only one sound in the same position, such as ship and sheep or fan and van, which shows that the two sounds are separate phonemes.
  • phonologyThe study of how a particular language organizes its sounds into a system: which sound differences change meaning, how sounds combine and how they affect each other.
  • IPAShort for International Phonetic Alphabet: a set of symbols in which each symbol stands for one speech sound, used to write down pronunciation in any language.

More terms: Phonetics and Phonology

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